Projectile Motion Demonstration

This applet demonstrates projectile motion. Each point
traces out the path of a ball falling in a vacuum. Each
time the ball hits the ground (the x-axis) the ball's
momentum decreases by 20%. This corresponds to a value
of .8 for the bounce coefficient, which is reasonable for
most real balls.

In this window, there is air resistance or drag.
The force on the ball is represented by

F = mg - bv

where g is -9.8 m/s, and b is a positive number
that increases with the amount of friction.
The friction coefficient b is set to 0.2 in
this case, and the bounce coefficient is set to unity,
so that all the decrease in height is due to air resistance.

Try the default settings and watch the particle's
path. Notice how the curve is noticeably shortened from
a parabola.

Drop a particle from a height. Watch it as it falls.
If the object stops accelerating and falls at a constant pace,
then it has reached terminal velocity . How high
do you have to put the particle to observe this effect?